Bodies of four Italian scuba divers discovered in Maldives cave, officials say

The bodies of four Italian divers who died in a sea cave in the Maldives last week have been located, according to officials.

A tweet from the Maldives National Defence Force on Monday said the bodies were “located inside the Vaavu atoll cave” and that “further dives will be carried out in the coming days” to recover them.

Searches had resumed on Monday after being suspended following the death of Mohamed Mahudhee, a local military diver, died during a rescue mission to reach them.

Five Italian divers are believed to have died while exploring a cave at a depth of about 50 meters in Vaavu Atoll on Thursday, according to Italy’s Foreign Ministry – deeper than the Maldives’ recreational diving limit of 30 metres.

The body of an Italian diving instructor had been found earlier outside the cave before the remaining four divers were discovered.

Monica Montefalcone one of the five Italian scuba divers who died near Alimathaa in the Maldives. / Credit: AP

The victims have been identified as Monica Montefalcone, an associate professor of ecology at the University of Genoa; her daughter, Giorgia Sommacal; marine biologist Federico Gualtieri; researcher Muriel Oddenino; and diving instructor Gianluca Benedetti, according to the Maldivian government.

Benedetti’s body was recovered last week.Maldives presidential spokesperson Mohamed Hussain Shareef said that Mahudhee, a member of the Maldivian National Defence Force, died of underwater decompression sickness after being transferred to a hospital in the capital on Saturday.

Shareef said on Sunday that three Finnish divers, experts in deep and cave diving, have arrived in the archipelago nation and joined the Maldives coastguard in a meeting aimed at mapping a new search strategy.

Rough weather has repeatedly hampered rescue efforts in the Indian Ocean.

Initial teams had already dived to identify and mark the entrance to the cave system where the Italians disappeared. The cause of the deaths remains under investigation.

Italy’s foreign ministry has been coordinating with Divers Alert Network, a specialist diving organisation, to support recovery operations and the repatriation of the bodies.

The cause of the divers’ deaths remains under investigation.